Letters to the editor, Jan. 23

Published 8:50 pm, Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Photo: Anonymous, Associated Press

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FILE - In this March 1958 file photo, St. Louis Cardinals' Stan Musial, with bat in hand, poses for a photo during spring training baseball in Florida. Musial, one of baseball's greatest hitters and a Hall of Famer with the Cardinals for more than two decades, died Saturday, Jan. 19, 2013, the team announced. He was 92. (AP Photo/File) less

FILE - In this March 1958 file photo, St. Louis Cardinals' Stan Musial, with bat in hand, poses for a photo during spring training baseball in Florida. Musial, one of baseball's greatest hitters and a Hall of ... more

Photo: Anonymous, Associated Press

Letters to the editor, Jan. 23

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A suggestion in line with Supervisor London Breed's thinking about redirecting the energy of graffiti taggers ("Conference seeks help in graffiti fight," Jan. 18): Community service could also include a semester of art history followed by a semester of art practice. Maybe with an appreciation for the art of others, murals would not be defaced so often. And with more developed artistic skills, the tagging we see will be more pleasing, like that by British artist Banksy.

Raise retirement age?

A small item in the Business section caught my attention: "CEOs seek to raise retirement age" (Jan. 17).

That's right, a bunch of rich guys from the Business Roundtable who don't need Social Security want to take away yours. Let's follow the money and see why. Since Social Security is well funded for decades to come and can be funded indefinitely by just removing the cap on earnings that are taxed, it can't be that they want to protect the popular and efficient program.

What's in it for them? Let's see, if workers have to wait longer to retire, that means more labor in the workforce, which drives down wages. Oh, now it's becoming clear.

Enviro act not broken

Developers like to trot out anomalous anecdotes about lawsuits to mislead Californians about our environmental laws ("Modernize protection law," Open Forum, Jan. 17).

But how many projects are actually challenged in court through the California Environmental Quality Act? Far less than 1 percent. The Public Policy Institute of California found that only 1 in 354 environmental reviews ends up in court.

That hasn't stopped the attacks on our states bedrock environmental law. Last year, Sen. Michael Rubio, conservative Democrat, attempted to turn the California Environmental Quality Act into a meaningless checklist that eliminated public disclosure and government accountability.

New attacks are under way this year, even though measures passed in 2011 already streamlined renewable-energy projects and infill projects.

The California Environmental Quality Act has protected our air, water and wildlife while assuring accountability in local government for more than 40 years.

Deceptive campaigns to change this law are really aimed at gutting these critical environmental protections.

In the Bay Area, a fan of 'Stan the Man'

As a longtime baseball fan, despite the present-day hoo-hah and kerfuffle over salaries, drugs and corporate commercialism that pervade baseball and sport in general, I found myself inexplicably misty-eyed reading the tribute to Stan Musial in the Green ("Legendary hitter was 'baseball's perfect knight,' " Jan. 20).

His on- and off-field life both hold up as exemplary in his or, for that matter, any age. I remember my Pop pointing him out to me at the 'Stick in the last days of his career. "They call him 'Stan the Man,' " he said. Stan the Man, indeed.

I think Joe Garagiola said that there is a statue of Musial outside of Busch Stadium and that "the statue can hit .280."

I'm not a Cardinals fan, but you can put me down as a Stan Musial fan.

Airport name? It's easy

I have a better idea for renaming San Francisco airport. I lived 50 years in San Francisco, went to all the local schools in my neighborhoods and contributed to the enjoyment for people through my work in the entertainment business. I think the city should name the airport after me. Just think: John Camajani International Airport. It takes all the stress out of trying to find the right person after whom to name the airport. It's a no-brainer.

John Camajani, Sonoma

Renaming the city

Isn't the airport already named after someone, namely St. Francis?

Now, if Supervisor David Campos would like to rename the city after Harvey Milk, that's a different matter, but think of the consequences - the Harvey Milk Giants, Harvey Milk Symphony, "I Left My Heart in Harvey Milk."

William Raimondi, Alameda

Captain Trips

Enough, already

Harvey Milk has been honored in this city with naming rights already. There is the Harvey Milk Democratic Club, the Harvey Milk Photo Center, the Harvey Milk Recreation Center and the Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy, a public elementary school in the Castro.